Stone Creek by Davis, Lainey (reading diary .TXT) 📕

His adrenaline must be pounding through his veins as he chases down players who may or may not even have the ball. He slams them all into the ground, again and again, getting up with a roar I can hear across the stadium, where the other parents in our section look at me with wide eyes.

Over the loudspeaker, the announcer keeps talking about Baxter’s stats, and I know he will eventually feel excited that he played so well. Scouts will likely see him today and this will help his career. But I also know that everything he’s doing is in response to feelings stirred up inside. Baxter Morgan is hurting.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Olive

Stone Creek pulls out a win against Maryland, which is a bit of an upset, so the mood in the stadium is ecstatic. Fans are jumping and screaming, hugging and crying. I wind my way through everyone down to the players’ entrance to the stadium. The security guards know me by now and wave me through the barricade so I can wait for Bax in the training room.

Justin glares at me, and I hesitate as I walk toward him. “Bax asked me to be here,” I tell him. “I’m off the clock, just here for my friend.” Justin furrows his brow and looks like he’s about to say something, when the guys start limping in from the field.

“This is a restricted area. For players and staff only,” Justin finally says.

The players who are really hurting stop by the training room before they even talk to the media, so they’re still peeling themselves out of shoulder pads and helmets. I glance around, but don’t see anyone I know well.

When I don’t move, Justin grabs my upper arm, his fingers digging into my skin, and quickly marches me to the hall. “Players and staff only, Ms. Hampton. You’ll do well to remember that.”

Before I can open my mouth again to protest, I hear the sound of football spikes clacking down the hall. I look over to see Baxter coming slowly.

“Shit, Liv,” he says, and I can see that he’s really in pain. He doesn’t even comment that Justin laid his hands on me, and Justin quickly releases my arm as Baxter approaches.

“It’ll be ok, Bax. We’ll get you fixed up.” I squeeze his hand and he winces. He walks into the room and turns around, to see that Justin has blocked my path again.

“Ms. Hampton will have to meet you afterward, Morgan,” he practically sneers. “This space is for athletic team personnel and players only. If you could please let us do our job.” Justin moves to shut the door.

“What the fuck,” Baxter roars. He tries to lift his arm, and then winces and groans. He looks to Justin, pleading. “Please, man.”

Coach Burns walks in the room just then and starts patting his players on the shoulder. “JT, tell me about your thumb, kiddo?” Coach makes his way around the room, checking everyone out while I stand hesitating in the doorway, and Justin relents. His nostrils flare as he breathes. “Fine, she can come in. But she is not assessing. She is here in a moral support capacity.“

Bax grabs for my hand. “Please stay,” he says again. I nod and stay close. Justin starts poking and prodding while Bax winces but tells him nothing hurts.

Justin rolls his eyes and grabs Baxter’s arm. He raises it up and tries to circle it around as Baxter moans. Justin doesn’t seem to be reading Baxter’s nonverbal cues at all, is just going through the motions of a joint check. He doesn’t even look to see Baxter’s obvious pain response when he performs certain maneuvers. It’s killing me not to jump in, not to say what I suspect has happened.

“Hey,” I say, finally, stepping in between Baxter’s legs. I grab his cheeks and pull his face down so his forehead rests against mine. “You have to tell us where it hurts so we can help you.”

Justin nudges me out of the way. “Olive, that’s enough. Let us do our jobs here.”

“Don’t fucking talk to her that way,” Bax says, jumping up off the table.

His chest heaves. “Bax,” I say. “It’s ok. But you need to tell him what hurts or he can’t fix it.”

“I need you to fucking fix it, Liv.” He tries to raise his arm to touch my shoulder, and he can’t. I think I know exactly what’s wrong, why he can’t lift his arm, but before I can speak up, Justin growls that I need to leave the room.

This gets Coach Burns’s attention, and he whips around.

“What the hell is going on over here, Morgan?”

“Coach, I want Olive to check me out,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Well then have her check you out. What’s all this caterwauling burning holes in my ears?”

I bite my lip and stand to the side while Justin glares at me. “Olive Hampton no longer interns with the football team, Coach,” Justin says. “She is, as you know, an undergrad, and has been reassigned to the swim team where she can earn more—”

“I don’t give a flying fuck if she’s a hot dog vendor.” Coach Burns spits his gum out onto the table next to Bax. “My players are finely tuned machines. This finely tuned machine has it in his thick skull he wants a specific mechanic. Give him the god damned mechanic.”

Bax grins and, with his good arm, rubs the hair at the back of his neck. Coach walks away, and Justin throws his hands up. “This is a fucking liability waiting to happen,” he says. He moves on to another player laid up on a nearby table.

I’m not sure what the fallout will be, but I’m sure it’s not good. But I can’t worry about that now. Baxter is injured.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Bax